Dossier: The failed test
by YunaArashi
Summary: Created in a lab and deemed a failure she became an expendable test subject. Trained to kill without hesitation and filled with experimental drugs could she ever learn what it really means to human? Could she feel anything? Did she even want to? Is having her on the team a mistake? Rated M for violence and possible adult content later. OCxGarrus
1. The lab rat

Well, I came up with this idea very late a few nights ago while working on my most recent Mass Effect 3 play-through. I think originally this was going to be a story about Shepard but as the ideas evolved I decided that the character in my head didn't really work as a Commander Shepard. So, as you can see, this has become an OC fic.

You may notice that the writing style changes a little throughout this chapter. This is intentional. I feel that it may not be obvious enough but the idea is that parts of this chapter are seen through the eyes of a small child but the whole piece remains in the third person as I need practise writing in this point of view.

The song used is _Watch me bleed_by_Scary kids scaring kids_(great song). Each chapter will probably contain song lyrics to keep me from relapsing into complete writers' block.

This chapter won't mention any of the main characters of the Mass Effect universe but they will make their appearances soon...Including everyone's favourite Turian Rebel ;)

This may well turn out to be terrible. But whether you love it or hate it (or have no strong opinion at all) feel free to tell me (but no flamers please!). And if you notice any mistakes please point them out.

**NOTE: This chapter contains scenes of violence and child mistreatment that some may find distressing.**

* * *

_The silence keeps it easy__  
__keeps you safe for the moment._

Almost everything about the room screamed 'silence'. The empty, absence of noise echoed off every clean white surface. But not every surface was white. And some were far from clean. There was a noticeable tang of copper of air for anyone who cared to notice. But nobody needed to notice the silence or the smell on the air. All anyone needed to do was look at the walls...Or the floors...Or the desk, the counter, the windows, the door...

So much crisp white was stained with fresh, strong red.

A tiny figure was curled on a small cot in on corner. Its body rocked back and forth slowly, trying to stem the flow of pained sobs that racked through it. Emerald green eyes were tinged red with tears and the tiny body shock with noticeable pain.

_As you're walking away__  
__your footsteps get louder._

"We've gone into complete lockdown. The chamber is sealed off to prevent any further damage."

A voice sounded in the hall outside the room, resonating easily through the silence. The little figure pressed its ear to the wall, feeling every footstep on the metal floor outside as the group approached. There were two or possibly three. It was hard to tell with the amount the sound echoed in this place.

"How many staff members did we lose?"

"Three security staff and two researchers...We can't keep this going. Aside from the difficultly of covering this up we can't afford to replace so many staff."

"Agreed...But the subject was a sizable investment and in case you haven't noticed the guy who pays the bills also signs all our paycheques. So unless you want your arse out on the street I'd recommend trying to fix the problem before just terminating the project."

_All you needed was time,_

"Speaking of which," another voice sounded, "I got a message from his office today..."

"And..."

"He's pushing for results."

"Wait, you did tell him about the...incident, right?"

"Of course I did! But what do a few lowly support staff mean to him? He needs to see results here so he doesn't risk the main project."

"Right," the comment can with a low sigh. "But after that I'm beginning to see why he deemed this project a failure so early on."

"How long is he giving us?"

"Two days at most to get some higher biotic readings."

"Two days?! Are you serious?"

"Yeah...We're going to have to go ahead with the new implants."

"But I thought those had a negative effect on the brain. They threatened to shut down lung function."

"They also increased the body's capacity for pure eezo by over fifty percent. We'll counter the lung function issue with further use of the new cybernetics."

_Now time will destroy us._

The group arrived at the door to the red-stained room.

"Collins, prep the OR and call the tech team. Tell them we need those implants ready to go within the hour. Jones, get the subject sedated...You might want to bring some of the security staff with you."

"Didn't do the other team any good," Jones said under her breath.

This project was more than any of them had signed on for.

* * *

_It will all be over and here we are_

The tiny figure didn't fight them when they stuck the needles in her arm. She didn't fight when her head became heavy and her vision blurred. She dared to think that this was finally it: They had finally given up and were ending 'the project'...But as always she was wrong.

She came to at some point later. She was on the cold metal table that she had seen many times before. Her pale, bruised and scared body was exposed to the white clothed figures around her.

_We're stuck inside this salted earth together._

They didn't stop when she screamed in a horse, strangled voice. She wanted to bite her arm to keep the sounds of pain at bay but found they were bound. Of course...They only ever let the sedative wear off after they'd restrained her. They wouldn't want another 'incident'.

The pain stopped briefly and her minded drifted back to the memory of that day. She didn't know how long it had been since it happened. She didn't understand the passage of time. Time gets funny when all you know is the clean white room and the metal table.

She could remember every second of that particular incident though. She remembered exactly what they had done wrong. A researcher had been told to give her the sedative. She'd hesitated...She was new, a rookie. Well she wouldn't be getting any experience.

She was meant to be given the sedative with the daily dose whatever mixture of drugs and eezo got pumped into her. The eezo triggered her biotics but it also burned at her veins and sent electricity flying through her brain. The sensation was usually cut off by the sedative: But not that day. The sedative wasn't administered in time. The burning turned into a blood haze in her mind. She hadn't understood why she was angry but she had been angry, so very angry.

She had reached for the new researcher: The unpractised rookie. Her biotic power was at its highest point and her anger told her to destroy whatever she saw. She felt the blood roll over her pale skin as the researcher's body was slammed against the white wall with a biotic charge that would put an asari commando to shame.

It had felt good. She wanted to watch more blood flow, wanted to crush more bones and rip more flesh...And she did. Another researcher was tossed against the wall like a doll. The security guards tried to stop her. She pulled apart their muscles and sinews, destroying them from the inside out.

It felt so good.

But it all stopped when guard managed to grab her little arm and pulled until he heard a snap. A doctor pumped her broken arm full of sedative and she crumpled to the blood stained floor...

_You'll pierce my lungs_

She was snapped back to the present as the figures above her began their work. She bit her dry, raw lips to keep the scream in. She could feel the scalpel running along her side. Her body tried to move on its own. Her little hands pulling against the metal restrains with all their might. She felt a sharp scratch as they pushed the needles into her.  
_My limbs go numb,_

Her arms and legs went limp. She couldn't feel them at all. She couldn't move them. She couldn't fight back.

"Shouldn't we give her a full sedative?" One of the white-clad figures asked another. "Or at least a local anaesthetic..."

"_IT_," the other figure stressed the word. "And no, we shouldn't give _it_ an anaesthetic. We need to see the effect of the cybernetics on the muscles. If they are basically dead throughout the procedure then how can we do that?"

"But she...But _it_ is in pain."

"Any pain it suffers is pain the main project will not have to suffer."

_As my colours fade out._

'The main project': It was the reason she existed, the reason they keep cutting her open on the cold metal table, the reason they let her remain, let her linger, even after 'the incident'. She didn't remember when, but at some point they had started calling her a 'failure'. It was after that started that she was brought back to the metal table more and more often and they came to her room to pump more and more of that stuff into her blood (...that stuff that made her feel like her body was on fire and she could burn everything if she thought hard enough) much more often too.

After she was deemed a 'failure' she started to hear talk about a new 'project'. They talked about it as the 'main project' or 'project alpha'.

_You watch me bleed.__  
__You watch me bleed._

She could feel the blood dripping down her side. She bit her lip harder until she tasted copper. She'd learnt to use that taste. It was strong and stung her mouth. It was usually just enough to keep her from screaming too loud.

But sometimes it wasn't enough.

She hated it when she screamed. She hated her own voice. It was soft, horse and raspy. It was weak. She hated being weak.

She didn't know a lot about the world. All her memories involved the white room, the metal table or stains of red and the taste of copper. But when she thought of weakness she thought of the word they used: 'failure'. She didn't like it. It made her stomach twist as if they were putting a needle in it, even when they weren't.

It was because she was weak she was a failure. It was because she was a failure they started 'project alpha'. It was because they started 'project alpha' that they put her on the table more and more.

A scream escaped her lips as they cut deeper into her little body...

She hated the table.

* * *

_I gave you everything to die with a smile__  
__all you wanted was to live for a while__  
_

There were footsteps down the hall. They were heavier than the normal ones that echoed through from the metal floor outside her room. She'd learnt to notice every change in her little world of clean white. Changes usually meant a new kind of pain in a new part of her body.

She curled up tighter on her little bed. Her hand reached under her thin shirt. She ran her fingers over the newest mark. It ran down the front of her body, right down the middle, from the centre of her chest to her stomach.

She didn't know how long it had been since she returned from the metal table to this room. But it was long enough for the mark to turn into a rough, peeling scab. It hurt when she touched it and bled if she scratched it: That's all she knew.

When she got back the room had changed back to the normal clean, crisp white. All that was left of the red she'd covered it with were a few dark stains on the walls and floors. The rest were gone.

She looked up as the white door slid open with the sound of metal on metal. A large figure stood in the empty frame with two smaller ones next to it. The smaller ones wore the white clothes she knew so well. The large one was different. His clothes were dark and clean.

She felt like she knew the figure and then didn't at the same time. Her head hurt.

_You took everything but it left you empty__  
__you can't replace me, you can't._

"Have the new implants gone in well?" The large figure asked.

"Yes sir," the little white-clad one said. "By our calculations biotic potential has been increased by one hundred percent."

"And the eezo you've been introducing to the system," the larger one continued, "have you increased the dosage?"

"Yes sir," the other smaller one said. "There have been no ill effects so far."

"Good," the large one said.

The large figure began walking towards her. She tensed, preparing for the usual needle in the arm. She looked up in confusion when none came.

"So little one," the figure leaned in closer to her, "how do you feel?"

She recoiled in shock. No one ever spoke to her. They spoke about her and around her, but never to her. She didn't know what she was meant to do.

"Umm...Sir," said one of the white-clad people hesitantly, "the subject has never shown any signs of attempted communication...It does understand what is said...And we think it knows how to talk but...It never has."

"Well," the booming voice of the larger figure said, "now is a good time to start."

There was silence as she stared up at the large man with wide, green eyes.

"How about this: I heard you killed five members of staff two weeks ago," he said. "Do you remember that? How did it feel to kill?"

The little human opened her dry lips. She pulled words out of the deepest regions of her warped mind.

"Good," her weak voice sounded, raspy from lack of use. "I liked watching that...The red stuff...It was everywhere...I liked it...Don't...What's it called...? Don't...Can't...Remember..."

The large man's face twisted into a disturbing smirk.

_It's almost over and here we are__  
__we're stuck inside this salted earth together._

"Inform all members of facility staff," his voice boomed at the two researchers, "the project is to be ended. I will be spending the subject for further tests and training. Wipe all records of the facility's existence and leave within the next twelve hours."

"Training, sir?" A researcher ventured.

The large man's smirk widened.

"This one is going to become my personal operative," he answered.

_You'll pierce my lungs__  
__my limbs go numb__  
__as my colours fade out.__  
_  
The small girl noticed something. She'd seen herself in the large surfaces placed in the white walls of her room that only ever showed things that were actually behind her when she looked at them. She looked up at the large man again while her little mind pieced together scattered images and distorted memories.

"Who...Who are you?" She said, trying hard to get her mind around the words and then remember how to form them with her mouth. "Your...Eyes...They're the same."

She pointed at her own green orbs: "Why are they the same as these?"

_You watch me bleed.__  
__You watch me bleed.__  
_  
"I doubt you'd understand," the large man said. "But, you were created from my genes. In a sense, that makes me your father."

"F-A-T-H-E-R," she said very slowly, "what does it mean?"

The large man looked down at her.

"You'll understand eventually," he answered. "For now, come with me. It's time to leave."

She did as he told her. She stood up and let her bare feet touch the cold metal floor. She was lead out of the room. Five people were waiting outside. They carried large, dark, metal things. She'd seen them before. The metal things hurt her when she did something she wasn't meant to. They could send little pieces of metal at her from far away. The metal flew through the air quickly and if it hit her it tore her skin.

She walked very carefully. She didn't want to do anything wrong. If she did they'd use the metal things on her. She followed close behind the large man...'Father': that was his name. She tried to remember it.

'Leave': She wasn't entirely sure what the word meant. No one had ever mentioned the idea of her 'leaving' before. She had thought that the white room and metal table were the entire world...Or at least the only parts she'd see.

As she walked down the cold metal halls with see saw something she'd never seen before. See stopped dead, bare feet carried her to the side of the hall. She didn't see the big people move and prepare to point their metal things at her. Her eyes were fixed on the surface in front of her. She placed her hand on it. It felt like the surfaces in the white room that showed what was really behind her. But it was different. This one didn't show a copy of what was behind her. It showed new things. Things she hadn't seen before.

There was a huge grey-white background. There was light coming from somewhere but the grey must be covering it. Green coloured things sat on the brown and green ground. Some of the things had brightly coloured parts...Some had colours she'd never seen before.

There was water streaming down the surface in front of her. She tried to work out where it was coming from...It had to be falling from the grey things that were covering wherever the light was coming from. The water was streaming off the green things too.

On the brown and green ground there was a different, flattened, dark grey surface. Sitting on it was a strange machine. It was little a big metal box, all coloured gray and red, sitting on odd legs that stretched out straight under it.

Her big, emerald green eyes gleamed with amazement. Was this what the rest of the world was like?

_It will all be over and here we are__  
__we'll die inside this salted earth together._  
She felt one of the big people jab her in the back with their metal thing.

"Get moving kid," he said, "the shuttle's waiting for you."

'Shuttle'? She didn't know what that was. Her eyes were still fixed on the world beyond the strange see-through surface.

_You'll pierce my lungs__  
__my limbs go numb,_

Something sharp on the end of one of the metal things jabbed into her side. She didn't move. She was transfixed on the water flowing down from the grey beyond the solid surface in front of her. The sharpness jabbed harder, piercing her shirt and digging into her skin.

She snapped out of her trance. Blood quickly soaked her thin clothing around the wound. The pain shot through her little body little electricity. For all she knew it was electricity. She looked up at the large man standing by the one who had just wounded her. Her 'father' looked down at her bleeding form. The wound was deeper than the one who had caused it intended. She clutched her side, blood staining her little hand as colour faded from her already pale face.

_As my colours fade out.__  
__You watch me bleed._

"Come on," her 'father's' voice said irritably. "We haven't got long."

The small girl swallowed thickly and started moving again. She was led to a large, circular door. One of the group escorting her approached a screen by the door and did...Something to it she didn't understand. The red symbol on the door turned green and it slid open.

She could see the strange metal box and the grey and the water falling from it.

A sharp jab in her back told her to proceed. She stepped out into the falling water. The ground beneath her bare feet was wet and she nearly slipped. The water poured over her skin. She released her wounded side and the water washed over it. The redness on her shirt began to wash away. It stung but she didn't care. The water made the skin on her arms turn that odd bumpy texture that it sometimes did when she pressed it against the colder metal in her room.

She tilted her head upwards. The water flowed down her pale face and red hair. She felt tears sting her eyes. She didn't know why.  
_You watch me bleed.__  
__You watch me bleed._

Another jab in her back and she moved again. The metal box, rectangle...thing opened up from the top. It swung up to reveal a small area with a few black seats in it. Some of the people who had been walking with her got inside, putting their metal things on the floor or across their laps. The metal box...Whatever it was, started making noise. The legs that it sat on began sparking at the ends and it lifted a little of the ground.

She stared at it. This was all completely confusing. She was overwhelmed, that much was clear. But no one really cared about that. Their job was to get her out of here without her destroying anything or anyone in the process. Other than that they didn't really care about the tiny test subject they were escorting.

The large man, with his green eyes just like hers stepped in through a different door and into a separate area at the front of the machine. The last of the people with their metal weapons pushed her forwards as they hopped inside. She had to grab onto the floor of the floating machine and scramble up to get inside. No one helped her.

The metal box swung shut and jerked into motion. She stumbled at the sudden movement and fell into one of the seats. She curled into the corner, holding her knees close to her chest. All her bruises and cuts ached at the movement but she didn't care.

She didn't understand anything...Including the passage of time. But she knew that her eyes felt heavy and her limbs ached. She needed to sleep.

She curled even tighter into the corner, resting her head against the metal wall. Her green eyes closed and she slipped into a silent sleep.

* * *

The woman opposite her placed down her weapon. She looked at the child. Her skin was pale and riddled with bruises, cuts and scars. Her red hair was matted with tangles and damp from the rainfall outside. She remembered the look on the child's face when they stepped out into the rain. She must have never been outside before.

The child shifted in her sleep. Her face twisted with pain as her wounded side brushed against the chair. The cut was still bleeding. The woman frowned deeply. She knew this child was dangerous but was all this really necessary?

_You watch me bleed._

She stood and moved carefully over to the sleeping child. She slipped her pack off her shoulder and pulled out the small emergency medical kit.

"What are you doing Ito?" One of the others asked her, addressing her with her surname.

"Checking her wound," the woman answered.

"That's not necessary," they replied, "it will probably heal on its own."

She wasn't sure if they meant 'it' as in the wound or 'it' as in the small child test subject they were meant to be guarding.

"And if it doesn't and she bleeds out then none of us get paid for this assignment," she answered.

She lifted the girl's shirt a little so she could clean the wound and place a bandage around her tiny waist to stem the bleeding.

Damn it...This job was really not what she had expected. When they said 'guard a potentially dangerous test subject' she had expected it to be a seven-year-old. She also hadn't expected the child to have her boss' genetics. Had he been trying to create the perfect child? She'd heard that the girl was deemed a failure and had been replaced by the new 'project alpha' about four years ago. Apparently they kept her as a kind of trail run for the treatments and changes they planned to make to project alpha. She wondered what exactly made the child a failure.

She sighed and slipped back into her seat. No one seemed to see the child they were meant to be guarding as a child. They saw her as a test subject, created, raised and adapted in a lab. She actually doubted if some of them ever saw her as human at all.

She sighed again. The child was going to be trained as an elite biotic fighter for the man who had paid to create her and project alpha, (partly from his own genetic material). That training wouldn't be easy or kind.

This weak little child would suffer and she couldn't do anything about it.

_Watch me bleed._

Unless...?

* * *

"Sir," Ito said, eyes fixed calmly on her employer, "I'd like to request a transfer. I wish to continue guarding the..."

She paused, not sure what to call the small girl.

"The subject," she finished.

The large man looked at her for a few moments before he spoke.

"Alright Ito," he answered, "I'll have my office send you the paperwork."


	2. Escape and more cages

Right, here it is, chapter two. This came out a little...odd. I think I was trying to get through quite large chunks of plot in one go since my writing time has been more and more limited recently. I'm sorry if this means the narrative comes off as rushed or the timeline jumps around too much. This shouldn't be an issue in future as my OC's timeline is almost caught up to the Mass Effect 2 cannon by the end of the chapter.

A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to favourite or follow this story.

This chapter will include the entrance of everyone's favourite Turian Rebel XD The song lyrics are from _Rise Against'_s_ Re-Eduction (through labour)_...Enjoy!

* * *

_To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away_

Her heart was beating fast. She pecked out of her cover and fired off another shot. Damn it, she was running out of ammo. These god damn mercenaries just wouldn't stop coming!

"What's taking so long?" A voice sounded from the comm. piece in her ear.

"We've got heavy resistance groundside," she answered. "Just give us more time sir."

"You've got ten minutes," the sound on the comm. answered.

"Understood," she answered.

A mercenary heavy trooper fired off a missile. She leapt down onto her stomach as the deadly projectile flew through the air just above her head.

"We've got ten minutes Ito," she called to her companion over the sound of bullets ripping through the air.

"We can handle it," the woman called back, reloading her assault rifle and downing a whole group of mercs with one well placed shot to a fuel barrel.

The woman sprinted from her cover behind a crate just as it splintered and smashed. She flung herself down next to her young companion.

"And how many times have I told you to call me Ai?" She smirked.

"One hundred and thirty seven," the young red-head answered, "and counting."

_To the rhythm of the awful rusted machines_

The bullets flew in a mad fire fight. The younger one of the two fired off biotic charges as her ammo supply got lower and lower. A bullet ripped past her shoulder, grazing the skin. She winced at the pain.

"Damn it, watch your barriers!" Ai yelled to the girl.

"Sorry _mum_," she replied with a smirk.

"Don't get smart with me!" The older woman shouted. "It would hardly look good if you got killed on my watch."

"I'll be careful mum," the red-head said still smirking.

"You'd better be," Ai said sternly, taking down the last of the mercs with a well aimed headshot.

* * *

_We toss and turn but don't sleep_

Mercenaries dealt with a few hours ago Ai Ito found she couldn't sleep. They'd cleared the hired guns from the lab they'd been sent to, recovered the information and gone back to the shuttle: Mission accomplished. So why was she so uneasy?

She turned onto her side and looked at the back of the young girl in the cheap, uncomfortable cot next to her own. The difference between this girl and the one she had helped escort from that facility several years ago was amazing.

Had it really been eight years? The girl had grown so much. Her 'training' had been as brutal as Ai had thought it would be. She had become a well honed killer. She could shot a man in the head with no emotion: no remorse, no pity and no hesitation...

It was disturbing at best.

But that was what made Ai want to stay with her. She wanted to teach her some kind of sense of morals. She wanted to teach her at least a little free will.

It was a hard job but she was making progress...Slowly. The joking attitude in that last fight, calling her 'mum' and those heart warming smirks were all little victories. She had learnt to show some emotion. Even if it was only to Ai herself it was a start.

Ai didn't want the girl to ever truly become the empty killer that her 'father' wanted. And she wouldn't let her be turned back into a mere test subject.

_Each breath we take makes us thieves__  
__Like causes without rebels_

Yes, that was it.

She couldn't let the girl be only a failed experiment. She had been kept alive only because her father wanted to use her as a prototype, (a trail run), for his true creation, his true obsession: 'Project Alpha'.

It was only because of that project that the girl was allowed to live at all, even if it was the life of an expendable test subject.

That was why she had to remain, had to stay here with the young girl...She had to protect her because she knew no one else would.

A thought pulled at her mind. It was a thought she'd had before but had never voiced.

_Just talk but promise nothing else_

"Hey," Ai said, softly placing her hand on the girl's scared shoulder, "are you awake?"

"What is it?" The girl turned to face Ai, her green eyes gleaming in the dim light from the window.

_We crawl on our knees for you__  
__Under a sky no longer blue__  
__We sweat all day long for you_

"What would you say if I said you didn't have to follow your father's orders anymore?" Ai said.

The girl studied her face, as if checking that her expression was serious.

"I'd say that it's not possible," the red haired teenager answered.

"Isn't it?" Ai said. "What if I helped you? What if we both ran?"

_But we sow seeds to see us through__  
__'Cause sometimes dreams just don't come true__  
__We wait to reap what we are due_

"Why would I run?" The girl asked.

"Because you deserve better than this," Ai voice was sad and desperate.

"I am a failed experiment," the girl answered, "I deserve nothing."

"You have as much right to life as anyone else," Ai answered with sudden strength.

"I do?" The girl looked up at her searing for answers to a hundred questions in her head:

Why was she made at all? Was she a failure? Did she deserve a better life? Did she deserve any kind of life at all?

"Yes," Ai answered with deadly clarity.

_To the rhythm of a time bomb ticking away_

There was a long silence. The girl's expression remained fixed. She was thinking a hundred deep thoughts at once, her sharp mind ticking over every detail in search of answers.

Suddenly her expression changed. Her pale face hardened with determination.

"What do we need to do?" She asked.

Ai had thought about this enough times to have a solid plan already in her mind.

"I have some old friends who can help us," she said. "If we can get off planet and to the Citadel then, with some luck...and probably a lot of credits, I can make us disappear."

"Disappear?" Those green eyes gleamed up at her again and she faltered.

"Yeah," Ai answered. "I've heard stories about people who left your father's organisation...They weren't pretty...And he'd defiantly want to get you back. We'd both have to hide, become someone new."

"That's not hard," a reply came suddenly. "I'm not anyone to begin with."

It was true in a way. There was no documentation of her existence. She didn't even have a name. It had been eight years and she was still a nameless, expendable test subject...

Well that ended here.

* * *

_And the blare of the sirens combing the streets_

Damn it!

She ran faster, trying to lose them in the narrow back alleys. They'd planned every detail for weeks and yet she'd still slipped up somehow. She jumped down the step in her path. With a graceful twist of her heels she turned to face her pursuers and landed, skidding backwards along the concrete ground. Without losing the momentum she sent a powerful biotic field straight down into the ground with her fist. The team chasing her went flying into the walls of the alley.

She turned and ran knowing she didn't have long. Her thick-soled boots pounded against the hard ground. She couldn't let them catch her. She had to run. She had to get to the shuttle...to freedom.

'Freedom'...Eight years of teaching from Ai and she still didn't really know what it meant. But she began to understand as soon as they started planning this escape. She wasn't truly sure, but she knew that it felt good when she thought of never having to see her father again.

_Chased down like dogs we run from__  
__Your grasp until the sun comes up_

She reached the waiting shuttle. It was a beaten up, outdated thing. But that didn't matter, as long as it could get them to the ship in orbit around the planet. From there their pursuers couldn't follow.

The shuttle swung open as she ran towards it. Ai was already inside and a contact of one of her 'old friends' was in the pilot's seat. Ai reached out a hand and pulled the teenager inside, calling to the pilot to close the door.

They saw the guards who had been pursuing them storm round the corner just as the door shut. A rain of bullets hammered down on the shuttle's thick metal skin.

"Get us the out of here!" Ai yelled over the noise.

The shuttle took off at surprising speed for such a beaten old thing. Ai turned to the red-haired teen.

"Are you ok? Did they hit you?" She said with concern.

"I'm fine mum," the teen replied, collapsing into the seat nearest to her.

Ai smiled softly and shook her head at the complete absence of any concern in the young girl. She took a seat opposite her.

"Right, once we are on board the ship you're going to have to watch everything you say and do," Ai took on a very business-like tone. "They don't know who we are and they're not going to find out if we play this right. While we're aboard I'll call you 'Jane'. It's a common and virtually untraceable name. "

"It's as good a name as any," the teenager replied.

"Good," Ai continued. "Now, it's also important you don't use any biotic abilities or tell anyone about your skills...Human biotics aren't exactly..._Well loved_ outside of military service."

"I got it mum," the red-head gave a small smirk. "You don't need to worry so much."

_We crawl on our knees for you__  
__Under a sky no longer blue__  
__We sweat all day long for you_

"There's one last thing," Ai added.

"And that is?" The teen said leaning back in her seat.

"If something goes wrong..."Ai's expression changed to a look of sadness, her voice weakened and she hesitated. "If all this falls apart just get to the Citadel. Don't worry about me...It's not me they're really after. They're after you. You're father spent too much time and money on you and all the experimental medicine and cybernetics and whatever else that went into you to let you go without one hell of a fight...If anything happens forget about me. Just don't let them catch you."

The teenager looked at her with deep, saddened green eyes.

"Mum," she said softly: It wasn't a joking term anymore. It was a genuine expression of the woman's importance in her life.

Ai turned away from the intense emerald gaze.

"Just remember that, ok?" She said, her eyes fixed on the wall.

There was silence for some time. Ai's word sunk into the young girl's skull. Her emerald eyes turned to the metal floor...She still didn't truly understand emotions. She didn't really know what she was feeling. But she knew what she wanted.

"Don't leave me," her voice was weak.

Ai turned to look at her. She lifted her head, short layers of flame red hair tipping back. Her emerald eyes locked onto Ai's hazel ones with propose. Her voice hardened.

"Promise you won't leave me, mum," if her voice wasn't so strong it would have sounded like a plea.

Ai swallowed thickly. She didn't know if she could keep such a promise. Those emerald eyes bored into her as the silence got deeper and deeper.

"Ok," Ai said after a while.

"Promise," the girl sated firmly, "swear it."

Ai stood up, eyes fixed on this girl that had never had any kind of real family, had spent years of her life alone in a lab as a test subject, was seen to her own father as a mere failed investment and had never truly understood human emotion.

Ai slipped into the seat next to her. She looked at her, not understanding what she was doing. Ai wrapped her arms around the girl, holding her in a protective gesture.

She wanted to pull back. She wasn't used to being touched by anyone apart from hits in a close range fighting situation. Ai, however, was having none of it.

"I promise," Ai murmured softly.

Something (...was that a tear...?) stung at the girl's eye and she almost curled up against Ai's larger form.

"Mum," she almost whimpered through the tears.

_But we sow seeds to see us through_

* * *

Ai had heard the Citadel was a marvel, a wonder of the galaxy. She'd also heard it had some of the tightest security in the galaxy...All this was probably true of, say, the Presidium. But down here in the lower wards...Well, it was a different story.

This area wasn't exactly the cleanest and petty crime was common. But it could have been a lot worse. One good point of the area was that the few C-sec officers who had been stuck with a post down here weren't all too pleased with that fact. On that note, anyone who picked the right officer and had enough credits could slip into the wards almost unnoticed. It's easy to turn a blind eye to something if you just got your weekly wage doubled in a single afternoon.

Ai had a few friends living here on the wards who were happy to take the pair in. The group living in the apartment was typical of groups on the lower wards. It took a group of five or more people who came and went to pay the rent but it meant they could afford a place better than any of them could hope for on their own.

This particular group was probably one of the better off ones. They could afford a fairly large apartment in a descent enough corner of town. The group of five was...Agreeable enough. Ai said she and the two female members went 'way back' and the three men didn't seem the kind to cause trouble. Sure, they'd have to find some kind of work for the group to be willing to keep them around but that was fair: You want to stay you help pay the bills or buy food. That was the way many people on the lower wards had come to get by. It was a happy enough existence for many people.

It would be fine for them.

* * *

It turned out they were right: It was fine for them. And it remained that way for some time. Ai found a job at a local club as security.

It was simple enough work: Stand there for a few hours each night and if someone starts to make trouble kick their sorry arse out of there. If anyone tries to act tough and take you on pull out your pistol and calmly explain that you could easily headshot them right there and then...It was usually enough to make someone reconsider.

Meanwhile the young red-head, who had been named 'Jane' for the time being if only because they had to say something to the C-sec officer who processed them when they arrived at the docks, had been firmly told that no one would give work to a teenage human in this kind of place...Or rather no one would give her any kind of _legal_ work and there was no way Ai was letting anyone take away what little innocence the girl had left. Hell, she'd nearly killed one of the male members of the group when he suggested that, 'Jane uses that pretty face to her advantage to pull in some extra credits'.

She hadn't understood and Ai had been mortified when the rest of the group began awkwardly explaining. The poor girl was so innocent when it came to that sort of thing. But then again what would you expect growing up with the only lesson you get being on the various ways to kill someone? There hadn't really been anyone available to give her 'the talk' at any point and Ai sure as hell didn't want to.

But even through all that they were...Dare they say it...Happy. It was a strange feeling but very defiantly a pleasant one.

_'Cause sometimes dreams just don't come true_

But as they say, 'all good things must come to an end'.

Late one evening there was a loud knock on the apartment door. Most of the group was home at the time but it was Ai who happened to answer the door. She felt her heart skip several beats when she found two Turian C-sec officers standing before her.

"Can I help you?" She said in the calmest voice she could muster.

"Ai Ito?" One of them said.

Ai quickly tried to formulate a way out of this. She found none.

"May I inquire as to who's asking?" Ai said, trying to draw this out to give her time to think. "Or even why?"

"Don't get smart," the C-sec officer replied. "Our orders are to bring you in and turn you over to the human ambassador's office. This is a human matter: None of our business."

"'None of your business', then why the hell are you here?" Ai retorted, still hoping for an opportunity to get out of this.

"Look," the Turian said, clearly exasperated and with rising anger, "if you just come quietly things might go a lot better for you...The way I've been told it, some human businessman with more money than sense is charging you with stealing one of his most precious investments. I'm not sure exactly how you humans handle this sort of thing but surly if it's just a theft then if you cooperate and return the stolen property it'll mean a kinder sentence, yes?"

The group inside the apartment was silent. None of them understood what was happening...Save for one. The red haired teen had been sitting in her usual spot against the window. It was behind the pillow she leaned on here that she had taken to concealing her shotgun: the only thing, (apart from the proverbial clothes on her back and a good stock of the various medication she needed thanks to all the experimental (for want of a better term) 'shit' that had been placed in her), she had taken with her from Earth. The M-23 '_Katana_' was a reliable weapon and the girl had always favoured shotguns...But right then it didn't matter what weapon she used, as long as she had one.

She stood from her seat by the window. Her eyes were dark and set on the two C-sec officers. She held the shotgun tightly in one hand.

"And what if the _property_ does not wish to be _returned_?" She said darkly.

"What the hell is that meant to mean?" The C-sec officer said, pulling out his assault rifle. "If you're going to start something you might want to think carefully, kid. No offence, but something tells me a fight between us wouldn't end too well."

She must have been one hell of a sight: Short and slim with an oversized shirt covering her muscle tone she must have looked so weak and yet her eyes were dark with menace at the thought of someone threatening her 'mum', and she gripped the shotgun like she had been born with one in her hand.

"Sir," the as of yet silent, second turian voiced, "I think this 'investment' was the kid."

"And?" his superior snapped.

"Well...I mean how is it a theft?" He continued, obviously uncertain.

"You're right, it's not. It's a kidnap," the other turian retorted. "Either way we bring the human in."

Ai was silent. She had no idea what to do. She tried not to show just how sacred she was. She had to get the younger girl out of this. She couldn't let her go back to her father. But she felt so helpless. In the end it was said girl who took action.

"It's hardly a kidnap or a theft if the subject leaves willingly," she voiced with strength.

"She'd got a point, Sir," the obviously lower ranking turian said hesitantly.

"She's a child," the other turian answered. "We've got no way of knowing if she made her own choice."

"I not a child," the girl answered. "If I was a turian I'd be old enough for military service. I made my own choice to leave that place."

Ai was thankful for all those lessons she'd given the girl on the cultures of other species. The girl made a good point.

The turian officer fell silent. The message had probably not reached him. The lower ranking officer, however, gave a general air hesitance. The girl took a step forward, holding her shotgun out, prepared to fire.

"You said if this turned into a fight it would end badly," the girl said sternly. "It would..._For you_. So why don't you run back to C-sec and tell them the place was empty."

The lower ranking officer took a step backwards as if to leave while his superior reached out and grabbed Ai. She struggled but against a fully grow turian the human woman had no chance. She felt him aim his rifle at her skull and saw the young girl's eyes darken even more with a burning inner rage.

"We only want her and we want her alive," the officer said with menace. "But if you want to make this difficult I can always tell the human ambassador that she tried to attack us...Or even that you started a fight. I'm sure you wouldn't want to waste your young life in a prison cell...I hear the male inmates _love_ young girls like you down there...Particularly ones with a lot of_...fight _like you._"_

"You bastard," Ai snarled.

"Shut it," he snarled, pressing the rifle harder into her temple.

"Sir," the second turian said with a cross between shock, panic and anger, "what are you doing?"

"You can keep your mouth shut too," he snarled in response.

_Look now at what they've done to you_

The young girl's hands shook with pure rage, her biotics going crazy and building up around her in a field of bluish light.

"Let. Her. Go." She almost snarled.

"Look kid," the turian officer said in an almost cocky tone, "this doesn't have to be difficult. If you j-"

He was cut off as his body slammed against the wall on the apartment with a powerful biotic charge. He dropped Ai into a crumpled heap on the floor as his head slammed heavily into the wall. The red haired human stood before him as he recovered and tried to aim his rifle.

_White needles buried in the red_

The girl wasn't thinking anything. All she felt was the rage. It was the same rage she had felt all those years ago in the lab as a child during 'the incident'. Her blood felt like it was on fire. There was a haze of red hot rage in her mind, flecked with white and blue blots of biotic energy and electricity. She only wanted to crush this pathetic C-sec officer who dared to threaten _her '_mum'.

Before he had a chance to take the shot she had already taken hers.

The sound of the single shot rang around the apartment. It was followed by the thud of a large, heavily armoured body hitting the ground. Blue blood spilled on the carpet.

...Then there was silence.

It took some time for anyone to realise what had just happened.

* * *

_The engine roars and then it gives_

She sat on a bench in a room in the C-sec office. The door was locked. Was this to be her cell? She hung her head, short red hair falling forwards in messy layers. The red haze had dissolved from her mind and she knew what she had done. Regret and worry gnawed at her mind.

Why did she feel this way?

She had killed before, many times in fact...But this was different. She had taken a life of her own free will and not because of her father's orders. For the first time she wished that Ai had never taught her how to feel emotions other than pain from the experiments or pleasure from the blood haze...Life would be simpler if she hadn't.

The haze of anger had scared her for the first time...She feared it could come back and take control of her at a moment's notice. And yet part of her wanted it back because when she was like that she felt nothing but the warmth in her gut as she tore apart anyone in her way.

She wondered if the haze was the result of one of the experiments. Maybe her father had wanted her conditioned to fight. She didn't know.

But one thing she did know was that the haze wasn't gone, not really. It hadn't really dissolved just dispersed and hidden away in the darker corners of her subconscious, ready to spread and dominate the second her anger triggered it. It was never truly gone. The haze was always in her mind. And that thought terrified her.

_But never dies_

She looked down at her hands, sifting them thoughtfully against the handcuffs binding them. Obviously C-sec didn't realise a biotic doesn't necessarily need their hands to do damage. They couldn't really stop her unless they somehow bound her mind in a similar manner.

But it was fine. She had no intention of trying to escape...For now anyway.

No, she would wait here. She knew that Ai was somewhere in this building too. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted guidance, wanted someone to tell her what to do so that she couldn't feel that the choice was right and not have this regret eating away at her.

After she shot the C-sec officer the other turian (the one not being a threatening bastard) had called for backup and prepared for a fight. But Ai had told the girl to stop and not make this any worse. So she did as she always did: She did as she was told to do.

Be it from her father, his men or Ai she was good at one thing and it was following orders. Following her orders had been one of the most basic traits enforced on her in her gruelling 'training' during childhood. In those kinds of conditions you learn every lesson you are taught or the pain you end up in will make sure you never forget what you did wrong.

The only time she went against orders was when Ai told her to do so or when Ai was in danger. Ai: her unofficial caretaker. She was the only person in the galaxy whose orders had taken precedence over her father's.

* * *

Time passed. She didn't know how much. Eventually she heard conversation outside the door. Judging by the recognizable lagging in the voices they were turian.

"I'm just saying that maybe we should try and find out what the hell is going on here and then hand them over to the ambassador's office," one of the voices said.

"And I'm telling you that I can't do a thing about it," a second turian voice sounded through the heavy metal door. "Regulations can be as annoying as hell but they're there for a reason. We have no choice but to turn Ito into the human ambassador."

"And if this so called human businessman has the ambassador in his pocket?"

"Then that's really not our problem."

"Understood, Sir," the voice was somewhat weaken, defeated.

The teenager's hands clenched against the handcuffs. They were going to just hand Ai over? She knew her father well enough to know he would not take her departure or 'theft' lightly. And if he had enough pull with this ambassador...This would not end well.

The young girl leaned back. She didn't know what to do. She wished she could at least talk to Ai.

Her sharp ears pricked up again as the conversation outside continued.

"What about the other one?" The same voice sounded.

"The kid?" the second voice said. "What do you mean 'What about' her?"

"What do we plan on doing with her?"

"What do you think? She shot an officer dead. I don't think any jury I've seen on the Citadel wouldn't have her locked up...I'm told there was extensive bone damage...Damn it, I hate biotics...Have we got her restrained?"

"Yes, I think so Sir."

"I want someone to check on her every few hours," he continued. "If she seems violent we can have her sedated."

"Yes Sir."

The girl remembered being 'sedated' back at the lab...It was never a pleasant experience and she almost always woke up on the table...

She shuddered.

She still remembered that metal table. She went there far too often in her sleep. She remembered the figures in white and the knives and needles and all the other instruments tearing her weak body apart.

She shook the memories away as the heavy metal door slid open. A C-sec employee entered, looking her restraints over to check they were still solid.

_'Cause we don't live_

"I want to see her," the girl said suddenly in a flat tone.

"Excuse me?" The C-sec employee said, taken aback by the girl's sudden words.

"Let me talk to mum," the girl said.

"Your 'Mum'?"

"Yes, Ai Ito, the other human you brought in, I need to speak with her."

"That's not going to happen. She's the human embassy's responsibility. We're not permitted to interfere. I think they're shipping her to Earth tomorrow."

The young girl's last remaining hope died in those words. The humanity Ai had worked so hard to build in her began to tear and crumble.

* * *

She had spent two months in that cell. In the end she was released on a technicality: Namely, they couldn't formally charge her when she, basically, didn't exist. There were no records of her of any kind, her existence covered up to protect her father's organisation. She was no one.

C-sec hadn't been all that intent on pressing the case in the first place. It would require getting past too much red tape for one officer who had never been well liked and only got the job because of family connections. Plus, it may have meant revealing to the public that one of its officers had openly threatened civilians. C-sec didn't need the publicity. As long as the girl was gone they didn't really care.

So the none-person was dumped on the docks with a handful of credits that one C-sec officer had given her out of pure pity...She hated pity. She had been told only to 'disappear'. C-sec didn't care where she went as long as she was gone. None of Ai's 'old friends' would talk to her even if she knew how to get hold of them. And Ai herself...Her 'mum' was long gone.

She searched the seedier area of the docks that she had been dumped in. She found a small private ship that was heading out to the Terminus systems to do some business not 'approved' of in Council Space. The leader of the somewhat...sketchy group of individuals was an asari with a sharp tongue and a dark sense of humour. When the young human stood before her asking for passage she nearly burst into hysterics.

"_You _want to go to the Terminus...They'll eat you alive out there. Run back to your mother kid," she had laughed, trying to brush the young girl off.

"The closest thing I have to a mother is probably on her way to a firing squad, or at least a prison cell," the girl had responded, her tone flat and deadly. "And I can handle myself. I don't carry this shotgun just for kicks. And I don't give a shit where we go as long as I leave this place and fucking C-sec _long_ behind me."

The asari stopped laughing, a small smirk still on her face.

"We have that in common then," she said, smirk widening. "I saw you get dropped off by C-sec. What did you do, get caught picking someone's pocket?"

"I shot a C-sec officer square in the face and got let off thanks to a shit-load of political red tape," the girl replied.

She realised at that moment that two months in a C-sec cell had defiantly not improved her language...Ai wouldn't have been pleased.

"Really?" The asari said almost impressed. "Got any skills other than that shotgun?"

The girl shrugged. "My biotics could crack most people's skulls open. Have to use to shotgun on turians or krogons though...Too thick of a hide."

The asari smirked and chuckled.

"You know what kid," she said, "why the hell not? I could always use extra guards out in the Terminus. But don't blame me if you get killed. Your food and whatever space you need to sleep is the only payment you're getting...And I want your ass out of my sight when we dock in Omega."

"Fine by me," the girl replied.

She had no idea where or what 'Omega' was...She didn't give a shit anymore, as long as it was far from here.

* * *

**Eight years later**

* * *

_We just survive__  
__On the scraps that you throw away_

She leaned back against the cool metal wall. The pounding rhythms of the music vibrated down the wall and into her spine through the heavily patched and stitched leather jacket she wore. Her red hair looked a dim brown in the low light and her green eyes were little more than grey orbs reflecting the lights of the club...Not that the sort of people who took any notice of her cared about her hair or eyes.

No. All anyone who approached her ever looked at was the slim body under the tight shirt that was visible beneath her unfastened jacket or, (if she happened to not be facing them) her hips and arse beneath her loose, dark combat trousers.

On the whole she wore more clothing than most of the others in her..._situation _in the club. But she was one of the only humans. As such she not only got the less adventurous humans' interest but she also got the interest of more adventurous alien species.

In the early days she had been uncomfortable and shy, only taking to the _'business' _when she found no other work and was on the brink of starvation. Even then it had taken a while before she took anything other than human 'customers'.

...But now. Now this was the only life she had known for years. It was the only way she could get by. She had learnt to not think about what she had to do...Now, almost constantly, she felt nothing.

It was an empty sort of existence. It wasn't really life. But it was the only way she could afford to live...

She gave up her humanity in order to survive another day.

_I won't crawl on my knees for you__  
__I won't believe the lies that hide the truth__  
__I won't sweat one more drop for you_

She sighed. It would be wrong to say she felt nothing at all at every moment. But her emotions had become more like a shadow, a memory of feeling she once felt. There were times when she felt something. But it was only when she let herself.

Some nights, when she wasn't getting a lot of interest, she'd slip away from her usual spot. She'd dare to spend some of her limited supply of credits on the strongest drink she could afford (or the strongest that wouldn't kill a human due to non-compatibility to the digestive system). Some nights they'd mix some old, heavy, rock or punk music from Earth to the music pumping through the nightclub. She liked that music. She'd down her drink and take to the dance floor, her mind letting go until her body acted on a pure primal instinct. And if some human or asari decided to join her in the impulsive act...Well...It led where it led.

Those were the only times she let herself feel anything in the act she performed every day (or usually night) to earn the money she needed to survive.

Those times were the only thing that kept her going.

_'Cause we are the rust upon your gears__  
__We are the insect in your ears_

She thought she'd keep going like that for years to come: Letting people use her body in exchange for a few credits and then releasing all the stored up emotions when she had the chance to let go in the club or managed to get a rare freelance mercenary job despite the strangle hold the three main merc groups had on that sort of trade on Omega.

But, as cliché as it was, her sad empty life was about to be changed completely.

* * *

She had given up on getting any interest that night. She headed back to the small alcove off the empty lower street that served as her sleeping place on most nights. The streets off Omega were never truly quite and never empty of the penniless, hungry and downright desperate that called them home.

She rounded a corner and nearly walked into a large figure in the middle of the street. She stepped back and looked up, finding herself met by the sight of a krogan in blood pack armour and carrying a claymore shotgun. She tried to turn around only to find another, equally large, armoured and armed krogan behind her...

This couldn't go well.

"This the one, boss?" One of the krogan asked a human currently walking out a shadowed corner to join the two moveable tanks.

"Oh yes," the human drawled in a tone that made the woman's skin crawl, "this is the one."

The human male took another step towards her and she recognized him...And then regretted she had...He was once a regular customer. Until she told him his sort of custom was no longer wanted. She did have _some _standards.

"It's good to see you, my dear," the middle aged male smiled.

"What the fuck do you want?" The woman said in a low, dangerous tone, hand shifting to the shotgun on her back.

"What else?" The human chuckled. "You, my dear."

"I thought I made it clear," the woman snarled, "that you can't have me, you sick bastard."

"Don't start acting like the victim here," the human drawled. "You're nothing more than another Omega whore."

"Then why not go bother one of the others," she replied, becoming more aware that the two krogan were aiming their shotguns at her. "I don't charge enough for the shit you're into."

"My dear," he drawled, nodding to the krogans, "you seem to be under the misconception you have any choice in the matter."

The two krogan raised their shotguns to point at her head.

"Now unless you want to lose that pretty little head of yours I'd recommend doing as you're told."

One thing she had learnt in the eight years since she lost the guidance of Ai was how _not _to take orders.

_We crawl__  
__We crawl..._

She decided to take her chance while she had it.

She spun round on one foot. Her biotic charged fist made contact with the chest of the krogan behind her and he was thrown backwards into the wall. Without stopping the graceful spin she drew her shotgun from her back and fired two shots into the second krogan's skull. She placed the next shot expertly into the krogan still sprawled against the metal wall.

She lowered her gun. She didn't see the human and for a second thought that he had fled...It was a foolish mistake to make.

His hands closed around her throat from behind her. His grip was too strong for her to fight and she felt to shotgun slip from her hands.

Fear (one of the few emotions she still knew) ran through her. She wasn't afraid of imminent death. No, she'd been too '_close_' to this man to think he would just strangle her. It was what he would do when she was weakened and couldn't fight back that terrified her. He was a truly sick, perverted man. She had stopped accepting his business for a reason. She just couldn't bring herself to be with someone as sick as him. And she worked on Omega. She could take them a sick as they came...But he was just too much.

Her gut twisted with disgust as she realised seeing her fight as he pressed the life out of her throat was probably getting him off.

Her vision specked with black and her body stopped fighting against him. Going limp she flopped to her knees. Oh god...She couldn't do anything to stop him from...

A loud blast echoed around the narrow alley, bouncing off its metal walls, ceiling and floors.

Her hazy mind questioned what she had heard. Was that a gunshot? The pressure around her neck slackened and slipped away. She gasped in air.

Her lungs stung and her body shook. She slipped down, arms shaking as they kept her head from hitting the ground, body bent over double. She gasped again and went into a coughing fit. She felt a stinging in her throat. It rose up and forced its way out into her mouth. She could taste copper.

She coughed harder and her blood spilt from her mouth and onto the metal ground. She coughed even harder and more blood spilt out. The burning in her abdomen got worse and her weak arms gave in. She collapsed face-down into her own blood on the cold metal floor.

She heard heavy footsteps on the metal floor. For a moment she thought that the sick bastard was just toying with her. But she doubted this when whoever it was approaching stopped and carefully lifted her up.

They placed her against the wall in a sitting position. Her vision was still hazy but she could make out areas of light and shadow that slowly became clearer. Her emerald green eyes shone up at the turian leaning over her.

"You alright?" He said in that distinctive flagging voice of members of his species.

She tried to open her mouth to answer but found only another painful cough and more blood emerged. She felt panic return to her and tried to stand but her head began spinning and she fell forwards. She felt something firm and strong block her path back to being face-first on the ground.

"Hey, take it easy," the turian said. "It's not exactly the easiest thing to believe on Omega but you're safe for now."

"T-That...Bastard...Wh-" She tried to cough the words out.

"He's dead," the turian answered, vaguely understanding the cause of her concern, "I shot him in the back of the head. Sorry it took me so long but I had to line up the shot carefully to avoid hitting you."

"T-thanks," she coughed out, throat beginning to clear.

She slipped back down into a sitting position, leaning her head against the cold metal wall. Her eyes closed and she took a few slow, calming breaths. Her heart rate returned to normal and the spinning in her head stopped. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the turian.

He wore pretty standard heavy armour. She could see the sniper rifle fastened to his back. It was reasonably worn, suggesting it saw plenty of use. He had a visor covering one eye. She wondered what the piece of equipment was currently telling the stranger about her: Heart rate and vital signs probably. Some advanced models could tell the user something about biotic or physical ability based on any implants or cybernetics...If his could do that it was probably just displaying a lot of error messages with the amount of synthetic additions and experimental tech inside her.

She'd met a few turians in her time. She'd begun to see the patterns in their facial tattoos-'colony markings' or whatever they wanted to call them. She was vaguely aware that the darker colours like the blue of this particular turian's markings were generally associated with their home world Plaven. But she could have been wrong.

Breathing now calm and dizziness fading she stood up. Her feet wobbled a little and the turian made a move to grab her again. She raised her hands up as a signal for him to stop and he did so. With her tone a mix of causal and business she folded her arms across her chest and spoke:

"So...What do you want from me?"

"Excuse me?" The turian replied.

"Please," she scoffed slightly, "I know the score. This is Omega. No one gives anything for free. That's just the way things work. So what do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything. What was I going to do just let you get strangled to death?" He said seeming slightly taken aback by her bluntness.

She shrugged. "Fine, but you get one chance so don't come crying to me if you do need a favour later."

She began to walk towards her shotgun lying on the floor next to the human's body. Her head began spinning again. She cursed inwardly and forced herself to move anyway.

She didn't need help. She was fine.

She leaned down and wrapped her hand around the shotgun. It took a hell of a lot of focus, willpower and muscle strength to not collapse onto the floor as she bent over.

She didn't need help.

Replacing the shotgun over her back she noticed the turian was leaning against the wall observing her.

"And what are you looking at?" She snapped at him, wishing he'd either tell her what he wanted or leave. She had learnt to survive on Omega by knowing how things worked. This turian was throwing her gathered knowledge totally off.

"I noticed you seem to know what you're doing with that gun," he said and glanced at the krogan on the floor (the one she had thrown across the alley like a rag doll), "and those biotics were downright impressive."

"And so your price becomes clear," she smirked, crossing her arms over her chest again.

"You're a fair fighter..." He paused looking down at the two krogan bodies, "_more_ than a fair-fighter. Yet you don't seem to be part of any of the mercenary groups. Why's that since you clearly have the skill?"

"Like I'd work for those dicks," she scoffed. "They've done far too much damage. I have _some _standards."

The turian took a few steps closer to her. "True, but what _'damage'_ have they done to you?"

The girl's eyes darkened a little. That was _not_ a subject he wanted to bring up. He could tell just looking at her.

"None of your god damn business," she bit.

"Fine then answer me this," he said not losing his calm attitude, "have they done enough for you to want to get back at them? And would you take the chance if offered it?"

"Define: 'get back at'," she said, her own voice levelling back to one of calm but cautious apprehension.

"Blocking their shipments, sabotaging their equipment, hacking their systems," the turian listed and then gave the equivalent of a small smirk, "and just generally pissing them off."

She quickly put the pieces together.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that vigilante that has the merc groups so riled up would it?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "What were they calling him...'Archangel'?"

The turian gave something akin to a shrug. "It might."

"So...You one of his little lackeys or something?" She smirked.

He gave that odd, turian smirk again. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Whatever," the woman shrugged, "I knew you had a price like everyone else. You want me to join your little gang of would-be heroes, huh?"

"That would depend on whether you wanted to join us or not," the turian answered. "You can just leave if you want."

Her head was still spinning. She knew she wouldn't get thirty feet before she collapsed. Not that she'd let that on. She didn't want help. She could handle herself. She always found a way out of these things.

_We crawl... all over you_

She mulled over her options. God knows she'd be more than happy to give those mercenary groups what was coming to them. But was it worth the risk of pissing them off. Alone, no it wasn't. But with a team...They could really raise some hell with the mercs. Deep down she knew she loved the prospect.

"Why the fuck not?" She smirked. "As long as I get to crack the skulls of some of those mercenary bastards."

"Welcome aboard," the turian replied. "You got a name?"

She considered this.

"Names are simply the worthless way organic life seeks to state its claim on anything and everything in the galaxy," she said in a flat tone. "But if you feel you need one I've been known to go by 'Kalika'."

"Kalika?" The turian repeated with a hint of interest. He'd never heard the name before.

"In an ancient human religion she was the goddess of time, change and death," the girl gave a hint of a smile. She had picked her name carefully. "If it's just too much for your little mind to remember then 'Kal' will do...Your turn."

"Garrus," he said simply. "And by the way I'm not one of archangel's _'lackeys'_, as you so elegantly put it."

"I guessed as mush," she smirked, taking on a sarcastic, mocking tone. "So, that means I'm addressing the man himself, am I? I _am_ honoured."

"I can tell working with you is going to be _interesting_, Kal," he gave that turian smirk again.

* * *

_We sow the seeds to see us through_

_Our days are precious and so few_

After she decided to join his little vigilante group 'Kalika', (as she had dubbed herself a few years ago), had left with the turian. They were heading for the group's base when the human finally gave in to the haziness of her vision, the weakness of her muscles and the spinning in her head. She passed out in one of Omega many dark, dirty back streets. If not for her hazy mind she would have laughed at the look of complete shock on the turian's face as she collapsed completely without warning.

She woke up with the light in this place nearly blinding her. Knowing this wasn't the corner of the alley she usually slept in she tried to sit up only to fall back down as her head began to spin.

She thought for a minute that she had fallen asleep at a _client's_ place. She noted she was still fully clothed, however, so that probably wasn't the case.

Her mind was very hazy and she couldn't piece together the memories of what happened before she passed out. She heard footsteps coming down the near-by stairs. She quickly decided the safest course of action was to stay silent and work out what was going on. For now, she pretended to still be out.

"Honestly boss," a joking voice sounded from the staircase. If she had to guess from the sound of it the owner was a krogan, "what have we told you about bringing home strays?"

"Oh come on Krul," a distinctly male human voice said in a similar joking manner, "can't we keep her..._Please_, she's _so _cute after all."

The footsteps reached the bottom of the staircase and moved towards the sofa Kalika was lying on. There was a mixture of human and krogan laughter ringing around the room.

"And suddenly your motives for picking her up seem a lot clearer, boss," the krogan said. "Didn't know you were into humans...Little too..._Squishy_ for my tastes."

More laugher then rung around the room.

"All right enough now."

The turian voice that calmly silenced the laughter triggered a memory in her hazy mind. She remembered nearly being strangled and...Archangel. She'd met the vigilante and...All the pieces fell into place in her mind and she realised he must have carried her back to their base. Deeming this a safe enough place she opened her eyes and sat up. She did so slowly this time, taking in a few deep breaths as she did so, and her dizziness seemed to fade.

"Looks like she's finally up," the human said.

She swung her legs over the edge of the sofa. Blinking the last of the state of sleep out of her eyes she looked up at the three figures around her: A krogan with a reddish tone around his head in full armour, a human in casual clothes with brown hair and hazel eyes, and the turian she remembered to be the one and only 'archangel'.

Head now clear, she met the turian (who happened to be standing nearest) with a calm level gaze.

"If someone doesn't tell me what the fuck you did with my shotgun I'm going to start cracking skulls," she said in a calm, almost emotionless voice.

"She's got a temper on her," the human chuckled, "I like it. You've got to love a woman with attitude."

"Judging by the look of you," her voice was unchanged as she looked the human up and down, "you couldn't afford it, _sweetie_."

The human scowled.

"Damn," the krogan laughed, "I'm glad you found her, boss."

The turian was leaning against the wall in a state of slight amusement.

"I wasn't kidding about the skull cracking," the woman said, not at all comfortable without her weapon.

The turian moved behind the near-by kitchen counter. He drew out the shotgun. She instantly recognised the worn M-23 'Katana' as her own. She stood and walked over, taking the gun from his talons in a slightly violent fashion.

"Don't _ever _touch my gun again," her voice took on a tone of restrained menace, the kind that could be deadly if unleashed.

None of the three men asked why she was so protective of her weapon. This was good, as she didn't plan on telling.

"So," she said placing the gun over her back, "when do we get to work?"

"We got word that the blue suns have a weapons shipment coming in," the human said.

"Let me guess," the woman said, smirking a little, "you guys rush in, shoot a few mercenaries, take what you need from the shipment and destroy the rest."

"Pretty much," the turian said with that awkward version of a shrug.

"Simple," the woman smiled, "I like it."

* * *

A few days later, when the team had returned from heisting another weapons shipment, they lay out the two crates of equipment they had recovered on the floor. The various members of the team quickly staked their claim to the weapons and armour.

_We all reap what we are due_

"Hey, good job out there," the krogan, Krul said, nudging Kal's shoulder. "I've never seen someone so small crack so many bones."

She decided to take this as a compliment.

"Here," the batarian tech expert, Erash, held out a brand new, gleaming shotgun, "yours looks a little beaten up."

"Not a chance," she placed a hand protectively around the gun on her back, "I keep my gun."

Erash looked rather taken aback.

"You sure, this is a much more resent model?" He said.

"If no one else wants it I'll gladly strip it for parts but I keep my '_katana',_" her eyes darkened a little, warning him to drop the subject.

The conversation was dropped. She took the new shotgun and the smallest set of human amour in the crates and retreated to the sofa in the far corner of the large room.

She began taking apart the M-27 '_Scimitar_' and dismantling various parts of the armour, customizing and improvising as she saw fit.

* * *

_Under this sky no longer blue_

Omega didn't have a sky to darken as the hours dragged by. Even as it got further and further into the night cycle the place stayed just the same. Omega's air was always heavy, dirty and an odd tinge of grey. The only difference, perhaps, was that the crowds, traders, and general bystanders got that little bit shadier as the hours went by.

Kal could tell it was late into the night cycle. The rest of the members of this team she seemed to find herself a part of had left at various intervals several hours ago. She had remained. She carefully released some of the screws on the scope she'd removed from a spare rifle. She laid the pieces out on the table in front of her, examining each one.

Picking up the tiny screwdriver she'd borrowed from Erash she selected the pieces she needed and secured them together. She cradled her shotgun in her lap as if it were the most precious thing in her life...In fact, it probably _was_ the most precious thing in her life...She carefully secured the new addition to the existing parts she had already added to improve the sights on the weapon.

She was far too engrossed in her task to notice the footsteps behind her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when there was suddenly a voice behind her.

"You're _still_ at that?"

She turned round in her seat to see the one and only 'archangel' wearing that turian smirk _again. _Gods, she was starting to hate that expression.

"What of it?" She said, easily irritated in her tired state.

"Act tough all you want but everyone needs sleep," he said.

"What a hypocrite you are," she retorted. "What are_ you_ still doing awake?"

He paused and then dodged the question entirely.

"You're right, who needs sleep?" He joked.

She didn't like this. She didn't like the way the turian tried to interact with her...He was getting a little too..._Friendly_ for her tastes. She didn't need friends. She didn't need emotional attachments.

_We bring the dawn long over-due_

"I'm here to help you give those mercenary dicks a taste of the hell they deserve," her voice was harsh, her control over her emotions poorer from lack of sleep. "Don't pretend you give a shit about me."

"'Hell they deserve'?" He questioned her wording. "What exactly have you got against them?"

"What isn't there to hate," she answered. "You've seen it all: Armed men shaking down the starving for their last credit. People being forced onto the streets. Children turning to begging or crime just to survive...Life on Omega. And at the blood stained root are the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack...Aria too, of course. But I'm not quite suicidal enough to fuck with her."

"Sounds like you've had experience," he said, all humour gone from his voice.

He paused, moving to stand in front of her. His eyes locked onto hers, trying to read her expression. She held most of her emotions off her face. But her eyes...Her eyes were gleaming like emeralds. He could see the anger in gem like orbs: Anger burning inside her but not quite strongly enough to burn through and show on her face.

Her face, complete with eyes of green fire, while pale and slightly freckled across her cheeks and nose, was flawless: Perfect in its own way.

"No more than anyone else on this fucking rock," she said, her voice matching the fire in her eyes.

"That's a lie," he responded almost instantly.

The anger in her eyes faltered for a second. She sat in silence. Not wanting or not knowing how to answer. Her gaze shifted down, avoiding his blue eyes that seemed to be boring into her.

"Everyone on this team has lost something or someone to the gangs," his voice softened...She felt her gut twist with disgust. She hated pity. "That's why they're here. And it's why you want the mercenaries to suffer, isn't it? You're not the only one. We all know what it's like to lose something important."

"Fuck you!" She stood up suddenly, her shotgun still in her hands. "I didn't ask for your god damn understanding and I sure as hell don't want your pity! You need to use me like everyone else! I'm here to kill things, so stop with the fucking therapy!"

_We crawl__  
__We crawl_

She turned in a rage and stormed quickly up the stairs to the large dorm she had been sleeping in (when she bothered to sleep). He caught sight of her face as she turned. The rage in her eyes was still there. But there was something else.

Behind the pools of green flame, just visible through the cracks, was a deep, tortured sadness. As she passed the window the glow of synthetic light picked out the previously faint scares on her face in a deep red colour.

It was then that Garrus saw that not only her face, but her body, her mind...Everything she was, was far from 'flawless'...

_We crawl... all over you_


End file.
